Editing Harold Lasswell (section)

=== Propaganda ===
At the age of 25, Lasswell completed his doctoral dissertation on ''Propaganda Technique in the World War''.<ref name="Janowitz-1968" /> He defined [[propaganda]] as "the control of opinion by significant symbols" such as stories, rumors, reports, pictures, and other forms of social communication. He also wrote that propaganda is "concerned with the management of opinions and attitudes by the direct manipulation of social suggestion."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lasswell |first=Harold D. |title=Propaganda Technique in the World War |publisher=Knopf |year=1927 |location=New York}}</ref> In his dissertation, Lasswell noted that propaganda is unavoidable and democracies must adjust to it, rather than fight it.<ref name="Marvick-1980" />

His definition of propaganda was viewed as an important development to understanding the goal of propaganda. Lasswell's studies on propaganda produced breakthroughs on the subject, which broadened current views on the means and stated objectives that could be achieved through propaganda to include not only the change of opinions but also change in actions. He inspired the definition given by the [[Institute for Propaganda Analysis]]: "Propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influence the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ellul |first1=Jacques |title=Propaganda: the formation of men's attitudes |last2=Ellul |first2=Jacques |date=1973 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-394-71874-3 |edition=Vintage Books ed., [Nachdr. der Ausg.] New York, 1965 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>

His study of political and wartime propaganda represented an important early type of communication study. Propaganda analysis has been absorbed into the general body of communication research, though the word propaganda later gained a negative connotation.<ref name="Everett-1994" />